276 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL 



HAIL, LOVELY JUNE! 



BY HELEN HETHERINGTON. 



Hail, lovely June ! thy witching smile 



Steals o'er the heart insensibly, 

 And seems to lure us for a while 



From anxious cares to roam with thee. 



Oh ! with what joy we greet the beams 

 And gorgeous tints of setting sun; 



The silvery steps of crystal streams, 

 The vesper bell when day is done ! 



The rural shade, the village green, 



The spangled mead where lambkins play, 



And many a happy child is seen 

 Sporting the rosy hours away. 



How sweet t' inhale thy breath along 

 The flowery vale ; while from above, 



Thv gay laugh mingles with the song 

 The lark sings to his lady-love. 



And, hark ! from yonder forest trees 

 The cheerful tones of every bird ; 



While borne upon the slumbering breeze, 

 The merry mowers' scythes are heard. 



I love to lie upon thy breast, 



And watch the early dawn of day, 



Ere the blithe lark has left his nest 

 To breathe to Heaven his thankful lay. 



All nature welcomes thee ! Above, 

 Light fleecy clouds float on the breeze, 



Whilst zephyrs whisper tales of love, 

 And breatlio thy name through forest trees ! 



XBUUltt. 



A Familiar History of Birds. By the 

 Rev. E. Stanley, D.D., F.R.S. New 

 edition, 12mo. John Parker. 



This interesting volume is so well known, 

 that we are not called upon to do more than 

 announce the pleasing fact of its having 

 reached another edition. 



As we always like to give some extract, 

 to justify any laudatory observations we may 

 offer, nothing could speak more powerfully 

 in praise of this book than the author's 

 anecdotal description of the internal struc- 

 ture of birds. This we subjoin : — 



BIRDS, THEIR DIGESTIVE ORGANS, &C 



I will now, (says Dr. Stanley,) give a short 

 sketch of the structure and uses of some of the 

 internal parts, commencing with those for the 

 supply and consumption of food. 



The gullet {(esophagus) opens into the crop 

 (ingluvies), which forms a sort of bag; on 

 quilting this it extends to what is called 

 the second stomach, (infundibulum, or ventricu- 

 lus succinturiatus), usually funnel-shaped, from 

 whence it opens into the third stomach or gizzard 

 (ventriculus callosm,) communicating with the 

 intestinal canal or bowels, which vary very much 

 in length in different birds, though on the whole 



they are shorter than in the class of four-footed 

 animals. 



Iu what are called the carnivorous birds, feed- 

 ing on flesh or fish containing hair, feathers, or 

 bony substances, which are of difficult digestion, 

 the gullet is of a vast size and capacity compared 

 with the other parts, often exceeding in width 

 the stomach itself. In some of the water birds 

 it is large enough to contain even a whole fish, 

 till the proper stomach is ready to. receive it. In 

 watching Cormorants at a distance with a tele- 

 scope,they may besome times seen quietly reposing 

 with their mouths half open, and the tail of a fish 

 hanging out, the remainder gorged in their capa- 

 cious gullet : and Sea-Gulls will swallow bones of 

 three or four inches in length ; the lower end only 

 reaching the stomach, whilst the rest continues 

 in the gullet, and slips down gradually, in pro- 

 portion as these lower ends are consumed. 



The usual food of Gulls consists of flesh ; but 

 when confined they will thrive very well on a diet 

 with which they must be perfectly unacquainted 

 by the sea-side. We may form, too, some idea of 

 their voracity, from the quantity consumed by a 

 Gull kept and fed in a garden, which devoured in 

 one day fourteen mice and two rats. Another 

 was seen to swallow an entire rat — an operation, 

 however, not accomplished without some difficulty, 

 the bird making several efforts before it succeeded, 

 and even then the tail remained visible for several 

 minutes. But the voracity of Gulls is exceeded 

 by some other fish-eating birds. Thus, the 

 Pelican, it is said, will at one repast, if hungry, 

 devour as many fish as would suffice for half-a- 

 dozen people ; and, like the Gulls above mentioned, 

 v/ill in confinement snap up rats and other small 

 quadrupeds. The Gannet, another fishing bird, 

 has been known to swallow an entire cod of 

 moderate size, and a Puffin kept in a menagerie, 

 to eat as much fish as its whole body weighed. 

 Well might the eyewitness to such an extraordi- 

 nary exhibition of gluttony declare, that " he 

 never saw so unsatiable a devourer !" and what 

 was still more surprising, " that the body did not 

 appear to swell the bigger."* Of the destructive 

 character of Herons with regard to fish, some idea 

 may be formed from no less than five eels having 

 been found in the stomach of one which was shot. 

 Voracity is not, however, entirely confined to the 

 fishing tribe, for some that live upon fruits can 

 dispose of an equally surprising quantity. For 

 instance, the Cedar Bird of America, a sort of 

 Jay, will devour every fruit or berry that comes 

 in its way ; and will gorge itself to such excess, 

 as sometimes to be unable to ffy, and may be 

 taken by the hand. Some, indeed, although 

 wounded and confined in a cage, have eaten 

 apples until suffocation deprived them of life in the 

 course of a few days ; and when opened, they 

 were found to be crammed to the very mouth. 



Very frequently, in woods or solitary places, 

 round balls or lumps of semi-digested substances, 

 composed of small bones, claws, feathers, hair, 

 &c, may be ftnind on gateposts or rails. These 

 are the discarded remnants of food thrown from 

 the gullets of Hawks, Owls, &c, which, if 

 allowed to pass into the stomach, might remain 

 so long in an undissolved state as to prove in- 



* " Evelyn's Memoirs." 



